In his A Woman Possessed (1993)—another Cornish-set tribute to women possessed of drive and impossible dreams—Macdonald celebrated the advent of the automobile at the turn of the century. Here, it's electricity and its wonders, in the same time period, that send a lively girl through giant steps. Jessica Kernow is depressed beyond measure by the prospect of ladylike living in the household of her powerful father, Barney, owner of the local gasworks. Also on hand are three brothers and former governess Miss Cressida Pym, now Barney's bedmate, although, properly, ``they never touch in public.'' Eldest son Harry, who longs to paint, is being groomed for the business, but it's Jessica who's been doing the accounts—and the founding of a power station to supply the village with electric light is a ``gleam'' in her eye. For her, love and marriage are the worst enemies. When she meets Cornwallis Trelawney, a landed, eligible bachelor from Yorkshire, then, he suggests a bogus engagement to keep the girls (and gossips) away from him—and to fool Jessica's fierce old father into thinking that his daughter's headed for marriage, not the family business. But, alas, the two fall in love. This unexpected development will amble toward a solution while Jessica's brothers sort out their own romantic entanglements, Miss Cressida loses some inhibition, and Jessica herself achieves amazing success with the power station. Again, there's that veritable fountain of talk among generally pleasant people, but Science and Industry bubble up here and there in the midst of romancing (``He inserted the key in the head of a grub screw that held a splined sleeve firmly in place on the static side of the drive''). With such detail Macdonald tries to involve the reader in his latest extra- romance enthusiasm. A tall order, but his many fans are indulgent. Buried in yards of talk, sparks of fun, and family feeling— and a plug for female get-up-and-go.
Pub Date: Feb. 8, 1996
ISBN: 0-312-13995-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1995
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
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